In 2006, Chris Gulbraa rode his bike from his home, where he lived with his mother and his brother in Kasugai, Japan. The 15-year-old was going to the airport and he had no intention of ever returning.

Five years earlier, his mother had fled to Japan from the US, essentially kidnapping Chris and his brother during a custody battle. The father, Mike Gulbraa, had run out of options because Japan doesn’t recognize parental rights if they’re non-nationals. But then Mike received a text message from Chris saying he wanted to come home.

Escaping to dadAfter one failed attempt to escape Japan, Chris was under close scrutiny by his mother who’d fled the US with him over a custody battle. But he soon tried again to get back to his dad in the US. At one point, he was stopped at airport customs before boarding his plane. He texted his dad for help. The plan worked, and father and son are now reunited.

Parental child abduction to Japan has become an epidemic that has received its share of dramatic media coverage this year, and even though many countries have long been pressuring Japan to address this issue, the demands for a solution have recently become more frequent, and noticeably more urgent.

BAC Home joined thousands at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear held by John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Several supporters came out to hold BAC Home signs, fly our flag and hand out fliers to raise awareness of Japanese Child Abductions. Once children are kidnapped to Japan they are never returned. Japan is a black hole for international child abduction. This was the first time the Japanese Black Hole Flag was flown.